Just the Facts, Ma’am: False Accusations Against Catholic Priests Are Now At Epic Proportions

The media will never tell you this, and the professional victims' groups will outright lie. But facts are facts.

Bogus abuse accusations against Catholic priests are rampant. The fraud being perpetrated against the Church is now off the charts. But don't take our word for it. Here are the numbers:

● In 2011, a declaration submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court asserted that a former FBI investigator examining abuse claims against priests in Los Angeles had determined that "ONE-HALF of the claims were either entirely false or so greatly exaggerated that the truth would not have supported a prosecutable claim for childhood sexual abuse." (The capital letters are in the original document.)

● In 2016, in a church of 70 million people in the United States, 25 current minors came forward alleging that a current priest had recently abused them. Some of the cases still remained under investigation a year later, but of the 13 allegations in which a determination was made, only two were found to be "substantiated," while the remaining 11 (or 85%) were found to be completely bogus.

● According to independent annual audit reports, as little as 15% of all accusations against Catholic priests in any given year are even deemed "substantiated" by the very lenient standards of diocesan review boards, with the majority of accusations deemed either "unsubstantiated" (indeed false*), "unable to be proven," or still under review.

● [Updated April 2020] The Archdiocese of Boston – arguably the most publicly transparent with regards to accused priests – has published the names of 58 priests who have been determined guilty of abuse by either canonical of civil proceedings. Yet it has also concluded that 37 priests have been falsely accused. In other words, nearly 40 percent (38.9%) of priests in Boston are determined innocent after a complete investigation. Let that sink in.

And then there's the money

Yes, it's all about the money

In an article only a few weeks ago in The New Yorker, the Archdiocese of New York openly admitted that it has "lenient standards of evidence" when it comes to doling out some $61+million to accusers and that it has paid on many "weak claims." The archdiocese pays out on flimsy cases "in order to lead to a collective sense of resolution," according to the article, whatever that means.

That the Church regularly pays out on rickety claims should not surprise any longtime reader of this site. We reported a while back how the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, a small diocese in Louisiana, openly acknowledged that even though "there has not been a case that we deemed to be true," it had paid out at least one financial settlement for a claim alleging abuse decades earlier.

Simply put: Fraudsters, flimflammers, and mental cases now score big cash settlements for themselves by making claims of past abuse. And the more the Church pays out on these bogus claims, the more claims it gets. Why not file suit? You have nothing to lose!

Indeed, there was the shocking story of two robbers who walked into a sacristy in Illinois after Mass and demanded money from a priest with the ominous threat, "We'll say you touched us, read the paper, they'll believe us."

And then there was the story of a prisoner actually recorded on phone calls scheming to rip off the Church over a bogus abuse claim with a friend who had already done so. (An East-coast attorney once wrote that prisoners falsely accusing a priest for money was a "current and popular scam." And he wrote this in 2001, 18 years ago.)

And not to be forgotten: the travesty in Philadelphia, where multiple priests were falsely accused and a completely innocent priest died in prison. (Note to writers in the Catholic media: If you don't know what transpired in Philly a few years back, please take the time to learn about it.)

A time to step up

The persecution of the Church is not always violent. Sometimes it is economic, as it is here in the West. Fueled by media hysteria and hatred, plaintiffs are now coming out of the woodwork to file phony claims against the Church to cash in on the big dollars being offered to them.

It is high time for defenders of truth and justice to call out the extortion racket for what it is and push back. Or more fraud will surely follow.

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* Important note: Some readers are unclear on what is meant by "unsubstantiated" allegations in the annual audit reports of Church abuse. Well, straight from the reports themselves (emphasis added): "'Unsubstantiated' describes an allegation for which an investigation is complete and the allegation has been deemed not credible/false based upon the evidence gathered through the investigation."

Comments

Its a win-win for the comrade commissars! The commissars of the media have been working hard, to demonize the church, and portray it as evil,for the last 50 years, while the commissar steeplechasers are trying to destroy the Church economically.

Our bishops are wimps, any accusation means removal for ministry. It is assumed that a accused priest is guilty, in many places he is ignored tossed out of church housing and given little or no money to live on.

Not so for bishops accused, not so.

Church investigations are sent to Rome and then usually back to the diocese, this process is made to take deliberately long.

The new norms for bishops Francis just signed into law stipulates that if a bishop is accused the investigation must take less than 90 days.

Anyone can make an accusation; out of spite, out of real or perceived hurts, for money, for false memories, etc. Our supposed shepherds painted a red target on the back of every priest at the Dallas meeting, 2002. The abdicated most authority to the screed of the media. Bling guides!

Regarding the apparent lack of protection for the civil rights of priests. Well… am no scriptural authority, but didn't Jesus forewarn that….if one blind person leads another blind person then they will both fall into the ditch together. So perhaps we should all pray for the light of Christ…. to help us find the correct path.

“This is pretty disgusting stuff” = agreed. The biased way the Media routinely misrepresent facts and truth is disgusting. Even more disgusting, and troublesome, is the way some (most?) people bow at the altar of the Media and accept everything that comes their way without the slightest attempt to critically analyzing it.

"Even more disgusting, and most troubling, is the way some (most?) people bow down to the altar of the Media…"

Don't you guys claim that "(most?)" people, some 1.2 billion catholics, bow down to the altars of Mary? Funny how you catholics have no problem with the Media covering your ridiculously extravagant papal visits or asking for donated turkeys or tax-free money come Turkey Day or Xmas time, but Heaven forbid them exposing the multiple crimes and criminals of your Church.

I will agree with LLC. Plus logically, this article is not blaming victims but people trying to commit fraud against the Catholic Church, robbing the lay people of their donations, and calling out all those cheering on this process.. The story of Father Gordon McCrae in Keene, NH should be a case in point as reported by Dorothy Rabinowitz. By the way, insurers for Protestand Churches report the same level of accusations. As an abuse victim who never sued the Catholic Church or the priest, I found that forgiveness went a long way and helped me come back to the Catholic Church and the Eucharist after 18 years. I thank a couple of priests for helping me through this process and our Bishop for eventually defrocking the priest. It is sad that as of 2002 around 4 – 5% of priests, according to the John Jay Report, had been credibly accused. It is sad that the Catholic Church could not have remained even more immune from the world wide assault on children that has mushroomed over the last 60 years. Despite all the recently revealed flaws in this area, I thank our Bishops in the U.S. for adopting the rules of the Dallas Charter for getting this under control although according to the John Jay Report, and also looking at the 2018 Pennsylvania numbers (credible accusations, not convictions) the number of credible accusations started to plummit around 1983 as the bishops started to get this under control. Since 2002 in Vermont, we have had just one case where a priest was permanently removed from ministry.that occured after 2002.

“Don't you guys claim…” = factually incorrect. It is you, actually, who makes such claims. Catholics adore (latria) only God, venerate Mary (hyperdulia), and honor all the Saints (dulia). Simple English and Latin, first grade language comprehension. But, again, never let facts and truth get in the way of a good rant against the only true Church, for made up reasons that have nothing to do with this blog and post. As a final thought: what do you have now against turkeys? Poor birds. Maybe you didn’t like your last Thanksgiving meal. Still not a good reason to blame them, although you like to blame everybody and anything instead of the man in the mirror.

Thank you very much for sharing your story. It wonderfully illustrates how, although we can’t often control the circumstances and events surrounding us, we have the power and responsibility to react to them in the most uplifting way. You, by choosing forgiveness, are an example, and a very positive one. Others decided to respond to evil with evil, and will be held accountable for their choices.

Oh yeah! I'm the pompous one, lacking intelligence, as you throw around your rich vocab and your Latin stupidity. Proves nothing in regards to your denials and worship of your "Queen of Heaven". Pope claims, "Catholics prefer the sweetness of Mary before the ruthless judgment of the Christ." Continue your worthless worship and dependence on the mercy, sweetness, grace and forgiveness of Mary, and you will surely suffer the unforgiveness and ruthless judgment of the Almighty God and His Christ. Later chicken.

P.S. Hard to answer to the "blog and post", when I'm compelled to have to answer to your ignorance.

“Pope claims, "Catholics prefer the sweetness of Mary before the ruthless judgment of the Christ." = when quoting (as indicated by the quotation marks – d’oh!), please include the necessary details: who said it, when, etc. Otherwise, it's just your words, and as such, worth of immediate dismissal.

“Hard to answer to the "blog and post" = especially when you have nothing intelligent, constructive and pertinent to say.

Also, to remain in ornithological analogies, I would say that more than a turkey you are a reminder of a Dodo. And as such, you and your church will soon be extinct, since you lack Jesus' promesse that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

The "gates of hell will not prevail against" your Church, for the very reason that Satan has already overcome your corrupt hierarchy and has placed himself as Head of the Church. The Accuser and deceiver of the brethren has nothing to "prevail against". He has already won the battle and infiltrated the souls and minds of your clergy. So you can cluck your Dodo analogies all you like, as you join the rest of your fake brothers in persecuting true believers. For me, it's like water running off a ducks back. Nothing you have to say bothers me in the least.

Look LLC, I heard this statement on EWTN's show called Vaticano in the middle of last week. I tried real hard to pull up the episode in EWTN's website, but they only show their own choices and did not have the show I saw available. So like I said, call me all the evil crap you like, in all your rich snotty vocab and I could care less. Your filthy Church is full of every type of perverted pedophile and pederast, and you have the nerve to accuse me. Maybe put some effort into changing your church, rather than pointing your accusitive finger at others. Oh! I forgot. That seems to be the one thing all you Catholic fakes are good at. Pound your own sand. Good riddance to ya! God will decide when I toss in the towel and leave you pigs to wallow in your muck and mud.

P.S. I'm not sure if this quote came from you or publiar, but it confirms how catholics have been taught about their precious Mary. Lines up with Pope Francis' statement. I paraphrase: "Catholics prefer to go to their gentle Mother Mary rather than face the Awe-full Christ."

Publyin's exact quote, "Thus Mary plays – in the Church's view – a vital role in the ever-ongoing implementation of the New Covenant because humans are more comfortable with a maternal human rather than a divinity – even Jesus and especially the foreboding and awe-full Christos Pantocrator of the first Christian millennium." Pope Francis gave a shorter version of the Church's view.

our former pastor of 25 yrs was made to retire due to emerging parishes & afterward was accused afte 57 yrs of being a priest & a holy priest. Now tell me how can a priest be accused for something that supposedly happened 57 yrs ago This in my mind is a false accusation if there ever was. Knowing him it’s not true but our archdiocese had his picture all over the news media. This is a tragedy thT never should have happened & let t hem know but of course no response. Needless to say they will never get another penny from me

It would be reasonable to assume that Patricia S. is expressing sadness and frustration that has been felt by thousands of parishioners, in other parishes. But what really gets to me is that we are playing into the hands of our adversaries. Because it is one thing to question the veracity of the accusation…. but the real worry is that his name and picture is now "all over the news media". Actually this has a real intention and a goal… namely to stir up more accusations against him. The lawyer hopes that other men, now middle-aged, will see a tempting opportunity to accuse him. When these men look into the matter, they will see that they can accuse with a minumum of evidence, and remain anonymous at the same time.The lawyer hopes that the publicity will generate more clients, and more fees for his legal practice. This has now become a cottage industry and we are being exploited by greedy and godless opportunists.

i knew a parish priest who was accused by two sisters of sexual abuse when they were in his parish school as children. He was near retirement age when it happened, several years before the crisis broke out in 2002. There was a community meeting in the church with the dioceses and bishop attending. Since this was a new thing at the time, in the days before broadband internet, everyone was devastated that the accusations even occurred..especially the priest, whom I talked to after the accusations were leveled. He told me it’s all he thought about, but he denied ever doing anything wrong. After all was said and done, our priest was found innocent, but not before he passed away, when the two sisters admitted they had made the accusations up in the hope of a payout settlement from the church. It can’t be doubted that the stress caused by the scandal contributed to our priest’s death, because he died of a heart attack.

Thank you for your refreshing facts….if it wasn’t for the Catholic Church the World would be in living Hell .
Thank God for One True Holy Apostolic Church! The ones who falsely accuse will soon reap their “benefits”

I Hope these people who make false claims to grab big bucks enjoy their ill gotten loot. Someday they will stand before Jesus Himself and He will settle this mess. I shudder to think of His words, 'what you did to the least of my brethern, you did to me'.